1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active air flap apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an active air flap apparatus for a vehicle capable of forcibly opening the air flap at the time of failure while reducing weight and cost.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an engine room in a vehicle is provided with driving parts such as an engine, or the like, and various heat exchangers such as a radiator, an inter cooler, an evaporator, a condenser, or the like.
The above-mentioned heat exchangers mainly distribute a heat exchange medium therein and heat-exchange the heat exchange medium in the heat exchanger with air outside the heat exchanger to perform cooling or heat radiation. The outside air needs to be supplied smoothly into the engine room so that various heat exchangers in the engine room for the vehicle are stably operated.
However, when a vehicle is traveled at high speed, air resistance is greatly increased according to the introduction of a large amount of outside air at high speed, thereby reducing fuel efficiency of a vehicle.
To solve the problems, the active air flap apparatus has been developed to improve the fuel efficiency by making an open angle large at the time of low-speed traveling so as to increase the introduction of air into the engine room and an making the open angle small at the time of high-speed traveling so as to reduce the introduction of air thereinto.
As shown in FIG. 1, the active air flap apparatus according to the related art is configured to include a duct 1 fixedly mounted on a front end module (not shown) of a vehicle, a plurality of air flaps 3 rotatably coupled to the duct 1 through a linkage 2, an actuator 4 controlling an operation of the air flap 3 according to external conditions (engine temperature, cooling water temperature, or the like), and a sealing member 5 maintaining airtight between the front end module and the duct 1. In particular, the actuator 4 is configured to include a PCB 4a, a motor 4b, and a plurality of gear members 4c. 
However, due to the actuator 4 including the motor 4b and the plurality of gear members 4c as described above, there are problems in that the active air flap apparatus according to the related art is heavy and expensive.
In particular, when the motor 4b is not driven due to the damage thereof, it is impossible to perform an operation of forcibly opening the air flap 3. Therefore, when the air flap 3 maintains the closed state and the vehicle is continuously traveled in the closed state, the engine temperature and the temperature of the heat exchangers are increased, thereby causing serious damages to the vehicle.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.